DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Gove reforms and a triumph for the Blob 

• e-mail

In his four years as Education Secretary, Michael Gove’s impassioned campaign to drive up school standards made him a hate figure among teaching unions, local authorities and the rest of the Left-wing education establishment – otherwise known as ‘the Blob’.

They bitterly resented any challenge to the iron grip they held on the creaking schools system – and, of course, the suggestion that too many teachers were simply not doing their job.

But with Britain languishing 26th in international league tables for maths and 23rd for reading, Mr Gove knew the nettle of declining standards had to be grasped for the sake of future generations.

Michael Gove’s impassioned campaign to drive up school standards made him a hate figure among teaching unions, local authorities and the rest of the Left-wing education establishment – otherwise known as ‘the Blob’

So ignoring howls of protest and a tirade of personal insults, he introduced more exacting testing and inspection regimes, sought to end the scandal of using grade inflation to disguise mediocrity and injected some much-needed academic rigour into the curriculum.

How depressing then, that his successor Nicky Morgan seems intent on dismantling his good work. 

Nicknamed Ms U-turn for scrapping snap school inspections and other planned Gove reforms, she has now called for a ‘review’ of his tough new tests for primary school children.

Her department insists no decision has been made but the review is seen as a victory by unions. It’s almost certainly a prelude to the tests being abandoned.

In a bid to shore up her Conservative credentials, Mrs Morgan gave an interview to a Sunday tabloid saying she would force schools to ‘go back to basics’ on the teaching of core subjects. 

Nicknamed Ms U-turn for scrapping snap school inspections and other planned Gove reforms, Nicky Morgan has now called for a ‘review’ of his tough new tests for primary school children

But it had all the hallmarks of a smokescreen – and a distinct whiff of cynicism.

When Mr Gove was shunted aside last year, the Prime Minister’s spin doctors denied that he was being moved to appease the education establishment, assuring us that Mrs Morgan would press on vigorously with his reform programme. Sadly, she has simply caved in.

So although the redoubtable Mr Gove won some hard-fought battles, thanks to Mrs Morgan it now looks as if the Blob may win the war – with a woeful effect on the education of Britain’s children.

Betrayal over care

For years, the Government has kicked the vital issue of elderly care ever deeper into the long grass.

A cap of £72,000 on the total anyone would have to pay towards their care was recommended in 2011, pledged in the Tory manifesto for 2016, then postponed until at least April 2020. And who’d bet against it being put off again?

Figures published today reveal the delays will have cost 100,000 elderly people money by 2020.

This endless procrastination has allowed politicians to duck an enormously expensive decision. But to those affected it has meant the heartbreaking sacrifice of homes, savings and the ability to leave anything behind for their families.

With a rapidly ageing population and many care homes in crisis, there is no easy solution. But to hold out the promise of a cap, then renege on it without explanation, is nothing less than a betrayal.

Well said, Harry

It's normally highly unwise for the Royal Family to get involved in politics – as Prince Charles has found to his cost.

But Prince Harry’s reported description of Marine Sgt Alexander Blackman’s murder conviction for killing a Taliban insurgent on the battlefield as ‘ludicrous’, is a notable exception to that rule.

As well as being a prince, Harry is also a soldier with experience of serving in the deadly cauldron of Afghanistan. Who could better understand the extreme stress Sgt Blackman was under?

This is a grotesque miscarriage of justice and Harry is right to say so.